ThunderStruck: WWE Raw Analysis 06/10/13

Triple H comes out for his match with Curtis Axel. Vince McMahon’s music hits and out he comes two minutes into the match. Vince has the bell rung and has Curtis Axel announced as the winner of the match by disqualification. Vince goes to the back. Triple H demands the match be restarted and Justin Roberts announces it. Vince McMahon comes back out and has Curtis Axel declared the winner as a result of a forfeit. Triple H has the match restarted as a sixty minute iron man match. Vince sends Curtis Axel away and takes the microphone and bell with him before leaving ringside. Hunter is livid.

^Definitely saw this coming. Hunter and Axel will eventually deliver a solid match, but until that time we get the pleasure of seeing the McMahon family on TV to see how their issues unfold. I’d be just as happy watching Curtis Axel wrestle a sixty minute match with a broomstick.

Triple H is shown arguing with Stephanie. Stephanie agrees that Vince was wrong, but she begs Hunter not to hurt him. Hunter agrees not to hurt him but tells Stephanie that she needs to go talk to him.

^Stephanie’s a terrible actor, and here we go with more of the McMahon family drama. It would be nice if they didn’t insist on being the center of the show whenever they come on television.

Kane goes one on one with Dean Ambrose. The match ends in a DQ brawl with Dbry and Orton helping Kane against the Shield.

^And another match ends in a DQ finish. This was just a tease for what could’ve been a solid wrestling match. Call me disappointed!

The WWE app voting results are revealed and Daniel Bryan will take on Seth Rollins tonight.

^Now THAT is what you call a potentially excellent wrestling match for later tonight!

Randy Orton and Dbry are shown arguing backstage. Kane breaks them up and Dbry continues to argue. Kane tries to be the voice of reason. Vickie Guerrero comes into the scene and announces that Dbry and Orton will take on Rollins and Reigns for the tag titles at Payback. Vickie books Kane in a US Title match with Dean Ambrose. Kane tells Vickie he always liked her and hugs her.

^I like the changeup of the booking. I don’t expect any of these three to leave with belts on Sunday, but we’ll save that for the predictions column coming at you this weekend!

The Miz goes one on one with Cody Rhodes while Wade Barrett does commentary. Miz wins and Paul Heyman comes out to announce that Curtis Axel will replace Fandango(concussion) in the triple threat match at Payback. Axel comes out and says the perfect ending to the match this Sunday will be him as the new Intercontinental Champion.

^And now Fandango’s concussion seems very convenient. So Curtis Axel will get the big push as IC Champion instead of Fandango? I see how WWE plays this. I don’t think Axel needs to the IC Title to continue his journey to the top, but I guess holding the same title his father once held makes sense given his lineage.

Vince and Stephanie argue backstage. Vince says to hell with Triple H’s pride. Vince says business comes first. He tells Stephanie to keep Hunter away from him. Vince says Triple H wouldn’t like what he says or how he says it.

^And I’m still not entertained by the McMahon family drama. That’s okay; WWE won’t be taking their definition of the “E” out anytime soon, so we’ll just deal with it.

Chris Jericho comes out and cuts a promo about his match with CM Punk this Sunday at Payback. He puts over Punk as being similar to himself and being one of the best. Jericho promises Punk will get his best this Sunday at Payback in their third match of the trilogy. Dolph Ziggler interrupts Chris Jericho. Ziggler talks about being the best and talks about defeating Alberto Del Rio at Payback this Sunday. Jericho challenges Ziggler to a match right now. Ziggler accepts the match but says Y2J’s opponent will be Big E. Langston.

^Great promo work by Y2J. I’m still skeptical about whether or not Punk will actually be at Payback, but that match has the potential to be the best in their series!

Big E. takes on Chris Jericho. Jericho wins the match with a codebreaker after Big E. is distracted by Del Rio attacking Ziggler on the outside.

^Another solid match for Big E. with the vet Jericho. I enjoyed this one, and I like WWE not taking a chance on rushing Ziggler back into the ring. I’m actually excited for Big E.’s next match.

Zeb Colter joins the commentary table while Sin Cara goes one on one with Antonio Cesaro. Cesaro defeats Sin Cara. Cesaro wins with the neutralizer.

^So WWE wants to keep Zeb Colter relevant while Jack Swagger heals up? Lame. Decent match, but I expected to see something like this on Main Event, not Raw.

A Bray Wyatt family promo is aired. Not much more to say on the Wyatt family; they need to debut soon.

Brad Maddox makes himself look good in a backstage with Vince and Vickie when he suggests that the lumberjacks keep the peace during the John Cena/Ryback confrontation tonight.

^More Hardee’s advertisements! Where the hell have Brad and Vickie been the last few weeks? No one cares, obviously!

Randy Orton goes one on one with Roman Reigns. The match becomes a no contest after Dbry and Seth Rollins both get involved. Dbry and Rollins then go one on one. Dbry rolls up Rollins for the win. Orton delivers an RKO to Rollins after the match. Orton stopped Reigns from interfering near the end of the match.

^Orton and Reigns had alright chemistry, but the true stars of this group are still Rollins and Ambrose. Rollins and Dbry put on a fantastic clinic, as you knew they would. I love great wrestling on Monday Night Dbry(should be the new name of the show).

Kaitlyn comes out to find out who her secret admirer is. Big E. Langston comes out with flowers. He gives her the flowers and tells her how much he cares about her. He goes in for the kiss and then shoves Kaitlyn to the ground. AJ Lee comes out. AJ says she felt worthless and alone when Kaitlyn left her and was mistreated by all these men while Kaitlyn was chasing the divas title. AJ continues her verbal assault. AJ says Kaitlyn won’t have her divas title come sunday. Kaitlyn slaps AJ and attacks her.

^Great segment. Good promo work from Big E. and great promo work from AJ towards Kaitlyn. I can’t wait for that match this Sunday! I just hope we get to see Big E. talk again soon; his promo work is very entertaining.

Another Bray Wyatt vignette is shown. Repeat what I said earlier.

Damien Sandow comes out and the match is presented by Hardee’s Super Bacon Cheese Thick-burger. Sandow talks about his rivalry with Sheamus. Sandow says he will annihilate Sheamus on Sunday just like his opponent tonight, R-Truth. Sandow defeats Truth and Sheamus comes out after the match to congratulate him. Sheamus says there will be no better way of kicking off Payback than with Sheamus kicking off Sandow’s head.

^Short match. Good segment to put over a great feud. It makes no sense for this to be a pre-show match, but that’s what WWE does. They don’t always use logic.

Stephanie is shown telling two different employees to find Triple H and Vince and to have them meet her in their office.

^A setup by a Mcmahon? No way.

Hunter and Vince are left to work out their problems by Stephanie. Vince explains himself and then gives Triple H the match with Curtis Axel next week after Hunter tells him he understands his point of view. Hunter and Vince begin to argue again but Stephanie comes back and gets them to do a group hug.

^Good chemistry with McMahon and son, but still not keeping my interest. So will we see Hunter against Axel or not? Apparently the match isn’t worthy of this particular pay per view on Sunday.

John Cena comes out with the lumberjacks around the ring. Ryback is out next and comes out of the ambulance but doesn’t come to the ring. Cena and Ryback exchange words. The lumberjacks stop Cena from attacking Ryback. Ryback is tossed in the ring and everyone jumps in the ring to keep them apart. Raw ends with each man being held back by a group.

^Is it just me or does the WWE Title scene feel somewhat insignificant compared to the Shield storyline and even the Sandow/Sheamus feud? I just feel like WWE went very weak with edition of Raw when it comes to being the go home show to hype your WWE Title match. Not a bad segment, but giving the champion and his challenger five minutes of airtime doesn’t seem to accomplish much.

The show was very entertaining if you take away what the McMahons brought to the table, but even they weren’t completely awful. I’m just not interested in Triple H when it comes to wrestling matches anymore. He needs to just do his job backstage and stay away from the squared circle. Overall, I still give creative a thumbs up for packaging together a decent product. I’ll be back with a new column this weekend, plus the Rundown with Jee-S and our Payback Preview. It’s a busy week for writing, so please make sure you leave any and all feedback below whenever we publish something! Until next time, you’ve been ThunderStruck!